How much shedding is considered bad?

I recently dove into the "traditional wet shaving" relm and bought the merkur 38c start up kit from www.vintagebladesllc.com and it came with a Rooney "pure" badger brush specifically made for them. I have been very happy with the brush, maybe because I never used any other brushes, but I like it. It's alittle coarse, which I like because I've always battled with ingrown hairs on my neck and I feel like this helps exfoliate that area well.

. . back on topic. Since the day I first used the brush to present (about a month and a half), it has lost a hair or 2 almost after every shave. It really doesn't bother me all that much, but I have this feeling like it will get much worse. Like the knot will eventually get looser and alow more shedding - like an exponential graph! I am fighting AD with all my might, but I know with in year I will be aquiring a new brush. But because I'm a green horn, I just wanted to know for experience down the road. Should this be a concern?

A brush will shed a bit initially. I guess the amount of time varies, but it should settle down soon. If it does not, I would definately contact Jim at Vintage Blades, he is an upstanding guy. For now I would use it and enjoy it, Jim will take care of you if there is a problem.

I wouldn't worry about a few hairs here and there. However, I truthfully believe that lather technique, how hot the water you soak it in, and how you treat it during the drying process can have a lot to do with it.

My brother really presses down hard when mug lathering and splays the brush out almost flat. I told him he didn't need to do that. Then I see him squeezing out the brush to clean it and "pulling" the lather out (and probably some hairs as well)

When he dries it, he flicks it really hard in the shower. I'm wondering if maybe that's why his brush sheds hair more often than mine.

Hmm.. I flick my brush hard into the shower, too. I wonder if that's contributing to the one or two lost hairs everytime I shave. I don't bear down hard when I'm making lather, and I don't pull particularly hard when I'm getting lather out for that last pass, though.

Thats good to know about Vintageblade . . I doubt I will bother them though, maybe if it gets really bad. Like I said, it is just here and there.

About Lathering/cleaning - I wondered about the proper way to go about that. When I lather I mostly just try to trace the sides of my bowl - barely touching the bottom. I've had better luck "whipping" up my lather then pumping it and beating it, I figure that might be better for the brush. When I rinse it, I hold it so the bloom is upward and run the warm water directly from the spout throught it, shake 2-3 times then repeat a couple of times. I initially did squeeze the water out - like I saw mantic do when he gets out the thick lather for touch-ups. I figured that wasn't good since there was no lubrication and it could pull the hairs.

I guess we'll see. I was just looking for a benchmark - if you wil - of when it is a problem. I guess when it is like 5-10 hairs at a time is when something's wrong.

Thanks
Andrew

For what it's worth, my two newer brushes haven't dropped a hair yet that I've noticed. One was the same Rooney from VBLLC and the other is that WCS shavemac.

However, my VdH boar brush...wow. That thing doesn't shed. It molts

Walter Sobchak said:

Hmm.. I flick my brush hard into the shower, too. I wonder if that's contributing to the one or two lost hairs everytime I shave. I don't bear down hard when I'm making lather, and I don't pull particularly hard when I'm getting lather out for that last pass, though.

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You have a cool avatar.

I picked up a shavemac 177 about 4 months ago from Jim at VBlades. It has the same problem I do...it just keeps shedding hair. Average is 5 to 7 per shave. I remember one morning I counted 15 hairs lost. The brush has lost, easily, more than 300 hairs.

I finally got around to emailing Jim. He was very quick to respond. VBlades does not carry shavemac anymore but he put me in touch with the co. directly. Shavemac promptly mailed me out a new brush within 2 days of receiving my email. (Jim also sent me a collection of sample scents per request).

The new brush is a size smaller than the original I purchased but I don't care. It is a fine brush that has lost 2 hairs in 1 week and promptly stopped loosing any more.

This post is meant to be a cudos for both Jim and the Shavemac co.

That's good stuff right there! I'm new to this but it really seams like there is a quality/respectfullness/gentlemanly attitude that is really lost in most of this world.

As an update, my brush didn't shed at all yesterday and today.

Andrew16v said:

That's good stuff right there! I'm new to this but it really seams like there is a quality/respectfullness/gentlemanly attitude that is really lost in most of this world.

As an update, my brush didn't shed at all yesterday and today.

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It knows you were concerned!

Confilo said:

You have a cool avatar.

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No, he doesn't! I like the old one much better.

As for the shedding issue, I treat all of mine the same. Some shed a little, some don't. If you are still losing a couple of hairs per shave after a month and a half of daily use, I would think there may be a problem. I would talk to Jim (as has already been suggested) -- I fell certain he will be straight with you and fix any problem you might have.

Good luck!